How to Repair a Hammond Organ

The Hammond organ was the first electric organ. It was released in the 1930s. This beautiful instrument has became popular in gospel, jazz and rock music. A great addition to any home for its decor and graceful sound, these can also age quickly while sitting in one spot for too long, or from intensive play.

Things You'll Need

Screwdriver

Cloth

Window-cleaning spray

Replacement capacitors

Turn organ off completely.

Open up the top of the organ with a screwdriver.

Remove your old capacitors. The capacitors are the small, pinlike structures that help keep the tone of the organ. These are likely to fail due to the capacitance of the wax and paper caps increasing in age. Most of the older capacitors are made out of cardboard, with a paste around them.

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Replace your old cardboard capacitors with new ones. There will also be silicon capacitors in the organ; do not replace these.

Change all of the dysfunctional or weakened tubes. The way to tell if the tube still has life and functions properly is if the light is on directly behind the tube. If this is the case for some of the tubes, do not replace them.

Carefully remove all of the tubes that function properly.

Remove all dust by gently wiping the tubes with warm water, followed by window cleaner. Put each of the tubes aside as you clean.